Question

Larsen and Buss present research and theory on three levels of cognition that are of interest to personality psychologists. Identify and discuss a few examples of each of these three levels of cognition (perception, interpretation, and belief and desires). What are examples in which your perceptions, interpretations, or goals differed from another person’s perceptions, interpretations, or goals, even though the situation or event was objectively the same?

Answer 1

Three levels of cognition of interest to personality psychologists

• Perception: Process of imposing order on information received by our sense organs ( For example, let's look at our perception of words. Each letter of the alphabet is in itself a singular letter. When we perceive words, we think of them as one singular unit that is made up of smaller parts called letters. It is through this organization of letters into words that we are able to make something meaningful. That is, we perceive an entire word, and this word has a specific meaning that can be found in the dictionary.
• Interpretation: Process of making sense of, or explaining, events in the world (For eg- my skin feels a touch of a human hand, but it's me who perceive it as a touch of love, care, anger or violence)
• Beliefs and desires: Standards and goals people develop for evaluating themselves and others (For example- I have a belief regarding success. For me, success means excellent grades, perfect life and lovable family. My belief makes me evaluate if i am successful in life or not)

There are lot of situations in which perception, interpretation or goal might differ for two people. For example- I have a boyfriend, my mother being from the urban state understand and accept my relationship in a healthy way (she percieves and interpret the situation as positive); while the same situation is perceived by my father as a stain to his reputation; he being from a lower backgroup cannot accept the modernisation of relationships.